Lutropin stimulation of RNA synthesis in corpus luteum chromatin.

Lutropin and human choriogonadotropin stimulated the endogenous chromatin-associated polymerase activity in purified chromatin prepared from nuclei of bovine corpus luteum. Chromatin was incubated in two different buffer systems: one that mainly supports the activity of polymerase I, another that supports the activity of polymerase II and is largely alpha-amanitin sensitive. The hormones lutropin and chorigonadotropin stimulated an increase in the rate of incorporation of [14C]ATP or [14C]UTP into RNA in both buffer systems. Follitropin, prolactin and beta-corticotropin had no stimulatory effect. Neither the alpha nor beta subunit of lutropin stimulated RNA synthesis. When premixed, the subunits rapidly formed the active molecule. A maximum response to RNA synthesis was achieved by a 10(-9) M concentration of human choriogonadotropin. Considerable activity was obtained at 10(-11) M human choriogonadotropin. There was no lutropin stimulation to RNA synthesis using calf thymus DNA and Escherichia coli RNA polymerase.